From the Panopticon to the Datapoint: Operational power and governance by design

Abstract: This paper examines how contemporary digital governance operates through technical architectures that shape behaviour and constrain choice, rather than through explicit legal commands. It introduces the concept of operational power to describe a form of authority that emerges when software systems preconfigure the space of possible action and derive legitimacy from continuous functioning rather than from normative deliberation. The study shows how default settings, automated decision pipelines and optimization logics displace traditional notions of due process and accountability. It argues that effective safeguards require translating constitutional and regulatory principles into design and operational properties such as intelligibility, traceability, reversibility and proportionality. The paper concludes that governance by design must be subject to institutional oversight capable of auditing, testing and contesting the technical conditions under which power is exercised. Published in Técnica Administrativa, Vol. 25, Nº 2, Order: 3, Issue: 106 (2026)Publisher: Ciencia y Técnica AdministrativaOfficial URL: https://www.cyta.com.ar/ta/article.php?id=250203 Oficial reference version:Zenodo DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18237585Preservation copy at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/zenodo.18237585